High School Education Memory Madeline Mucci Professor Fogleman Due September 15, 2014
My best learning moment of my entire educational career happened in the twelfth grade. For the entirety of high school before that year, I had been able to skirt by, exerting the least amount of effort manageable to still earn good grades. I was a master at turning in homework late with the perfect excuses that would prevent me from getting points taken off for tardiness. I read and studied close to nothing and was still able to ace my tests and quizzes and answer any questions my teachers asked. While I could have just put in all of my efforts and earned outstanding grades, it was just too easy to be lazy and clever about it to earn excellent grades. I really did participate in the whole selective learning process, because I didn't care to focus on anything beside what I liked and was good at, and if I liked it and was good at it, I didn't have to put much energy into it anyway.
It's quite concerning that I made it through 12 years of American public schooling on the honor roll without really doing anything, and while I knew this was convoluted and backwards, I figured I could without a doubt get through my senior year in the same fashion. But there was some part of me that craved that challenge, that class, that teacher that forced me to put every ounce of work and effort and intelligence into my work, just to see what I could do. Honestly, it was boring to never feel compelled to try hard. I never felt truly challenged and I wanted to. So that was why, while everyone I knew feared and prematurely rued the day they were assigned Mr. Porcelli as their AP Language and Composition teacher, I had been hoping for and daydreaming about getting him for months before the day in July when I could open my mailbox and find my senior year schedule. He was rumored to be the toughest and most intimidating teacher in the entire school, as he was the department head. But by the people who had him and worked hard in his class, he was supposedly one of the greatest people one could ever meet: almost like a fatherly figure. This was extremely enticing to me, especially since he teaches my favorite subject (English; namely, grammar) and the year before I had a teacher who was basically like a friend who sat on the computer the entire class and got paid for it.
The day came when I scurried out to my mailbox barefoot and still in my pajamas to fling open my mailbox and rip apart the envelope surrounding my schedule. I was assigned Mr. Porcelli's Period 2 class starting that fall, and while I'm sure my future classmates were having mini breakdowns and calling their guidance counselors to get switched out, I began to dance around my mailbox and back up my driveway.
The school year with Porcelli did not prove to be as delightfully challenging as I had hoped: it was incredibly difficult and stressful and so worth it along the way. He was rigorous and demanding and being in his fast-paced and nonsense-intolerant classroom was wildly nerve wracking. We jumped from topic to topic, assignment to assignment, learning to tests so quickly I would leave the room every day with my head spinning. But that was the best part. I was THINKING. I was being CHALLENGED. I was feeling quick and smart and clever and witty, because although we never strayed from the topic at hand, he enjoyed having his opinions challenged and questioned and both giving and receiving sass. I am a professional at sarcasm and wit, and he definitely respected and was entertained thoroughly by those who had the courage to stand up to him and do it well. I bonded with Mr. Porcelli after school in his office most days, and learned what it meant to care about and respect someone so much that I would do whatever it takes to impress him and make him proud. He became a mentor and source of encouragement for me, and forced me to break out of my procrastination and habits of laziness. He reminded me how smart I am and that if I waste my intelligence on free time that I don't really have and assignments that don't really show my ability, I won't really be able to go anywhere in life. Although I had been yearning to go to college for years, I don't think I would ever have been even remotely prepared if it weren't for the experience I had in Mr. Porcelli's class. I graduated with the renewed confidence and determination to put my best efforts into everything I do academically and in every aspect of life.
I still email Porcelli every week and we catch up on both personal and academic matters. He is what sealed the deal for me on wanting to be an English teacher. If in my whole career I get to do only one thing, I vehemently desire for it to be influencing and inspiring just one person the way Mr. Porcelli influenced and inspired me.
Madeline Mucci
Professor Fogleman
Due September 15, 2014
My best learning moment of my entire educational career happened in the twelfth grade. For the entirety of high school before that year, I had been able to skirt by, exerting the least amount of effort manageable to still earn good grades. I was a master at turning in homework late with the perfect excuses that would prevent me from getting points taken off for tardiness. I read and studied close to nothing and was still able to ace my tests and quizzes and answer any questions my teachers asked. While I could have just put in all of my efforts and earned outstanding grades, it was just too easy to be lazy and clever about it to earn excellent grades. I really did participate in the whole selective learning process, because I didn't care to focus on anything beside what I liked and was good at, and if I liked it and was good at it, I didn't have to put much energy into it anyway.
It's quite concerning that I made it through 12 years of American public schooling on the honor roll without really doing anything, and while I knew this was convoluted and backwards, I figured I could without a doubt get through my senior year in the same fashion. But there was some part of me that craved that challenge, that class, that teacher that forced me to put every ounce of work and effort and intelligence into my work, just to see what I could do. Honestly, it was boring to never feel compelled to try hard. I never felt truly challenged and I wanted to. So that was why, while everyone I knew feared and prematurely rued the day they were assigned Mr. Porcelli as their AP Language and Composition teacher, I had been hoping for and daydreaming about getting him for months before the day in July when I could open my mailbox and find my senior year schedule. He was rumored to be the toughest and most intimidating teacher in the entire school, as he was the department head. But by the people who had him and worked hard in his class, he was supposedly one of the greatest people one could ever meet: almost like a fatherly figure. This was extremely enticing to me, especially since he teaches my favorite subject (English; namely, grammar) and the year before I had a teacher who was basically like a friend who sat on the computer the entire class and got paid for it.
The day came when I scurried out to my mailbox barefoot and still in my pajamas to fling open my mailbox and rip apart the envelope surrounding my schedule. I was assigned Mr. Porcelli's Period 2 class starting that fall, and while I'm sure my future classmates were having mini breakdowns and calling their guidance counselors to get switched out, I began to dance around my mailbox and back up my driveway.
The school year with Porcelli did not prove to be as delightfully challenging as I had hoped: it was incredibly difficult and stressful and so worth it along the way. He was rigorous and demanding and being in his fast-paced and nonsense-intolerant classroom was wildly nerve wracking. We jumped from topic to topic, assignment to assignment, learning to tests so quickly I would leave the room every day with my head spinning. But that was the best part. I was THINKING. I was being CHALLENGED. I was feeling quick and smart and clever and witty, because although we never strayed from the topic at hand, he enjoyed having his opinions challenged and questioned and both giving and receiving sass. I am a professional at sarcasm and wit, and he definitely respected and was entertained thoroughly by those who had the courage to stand up to him and do it well. I bonded with Mr. Porcelli after school in his office most days, and learned what it meant to care about and respect someone so much that I would do whatever it takes to impress him and make him proud. He became a mentor and source of encouragement for me, and forced me to break out of my procrastination and habits of laziness. He reminded me how smart I am and that if I waste my intelligence on free time that I don't really have and assignments that don't really show my ability, I won't really be able to go anywhere in life. Although I had been yearning to go to college for years, I don't think I would ever have been even remotely prepared if it weren't for the experience I had in Mr. Porcelli's class. I graduated with the renewed confidence and determination to put my best efforts into everything I do academically and in every aspect of life.
I still email Porcelli every week and we catch up on both personal and academic matters. He is what sealed the deal for me on wanting to be an English teacher. If in my whole career I get to do only one thing, I vehemently desire for it to be influencing and inspiring just one person the way Mr. Porcelli influenced and inspired me.